Choices
by Plantress
Summary: One-shot, Lost Canvas based It's a sunny day...and Albafica is about to have some bad luck.


**Choices**

It was a nice day outside in Sanctuary. Even Albafica hadn't been able to resist the siren call of the sun and had come down from his temple. The fourteen year old closed his eyes and lifted his face to the sky, enjoying the breeze for a moment.

The sound of laughter broke his revive and he glanced over at the source. He wasn't the only one to have taken advantage of the good weather to take a brief break. Several of his fellow Gold Saints, whether they had earned a Cloth or were still trainees, had gathered in this small meadow near the twelve temples. He watched them, feeling a small pang of loneliness. He would like to go over and join the group, but he didn't dare. He had made his choice already, and couldn't risk their safety for his own selfish reasons.

He hadn't been forced to carry the poisons the Pisces Saint used within himself. It was a choice he had when he had started training. It made him a more affective protector and weapon to Athena. He would be able to do his duty much better this way. But all power had its cost, and this isolation was his. Albafica turned away from the site of the others, deciding that tending the rose garden in the back of his temple might be a worth while use of his afternoon. But something, a flash of white at he corner of his eye, caught his attention. He turned to find that he was the only one not with the larger gathering. Someone dressed in white was sneaking through the long grass. Whoever it as was wearing the leather armor they all wore in Sanctuary. He wondered for a moment what whoever it was thought they were doing. It wasn't like you could sneak up on Gold Saints that easily..

But whoever it was wasn't headed toward the group he realized. They were going off to the side. Albafica raised his head and followed the sneaks path. There was a tree not far from them, and napping in it's shade was the new Aries Saint, Shion. It as a shock to even seen the other Saint relaxing so much. He looked younger, more near the thirteen he was suppose to be than the miniature adult he was awake.

Albafica suddenly didn't want to see Shion's rest disturbed. He knew it as odd, Shion wasn't that much younger than he was and as a Saint was his equal, but he still couldn't help feeling slightly protective as he set out after the sneak. They had nearly reached Shion, Albafica trying to make as little noise as possible, when he recognized the person he was follow.

"Regulus?" he whispered, loud enough so that the heard, but hopefully not loud enough to wake the sleeping Saint, "What are you doing here?"

The candidate for the Leo cloth glanced back at him. "I'm testing something," he whispered as he crept nearer, almost at the side of the Aries Saint. Shion stirred, muttering some thing unintelligible. Both of the froze, waiting for him to settled.

"Leave him alone," Albafica tried to sound stern as he whispered, but apparently he didn't succeed or Regulus just choose not to listen.

"But Shion told me he doesn't have eyebrows 'cause he Lemurian," Regulus whispered, "then Manigoldo said it was really because he paints the dots on and doesn't want everyone to know. I wanna find out which is true."

"Then just ask him when he wakes up!' Albafica hissed, but the Leo trainee decided to ignore him once again. The older Saint watched as Regulus leaned forward and rubbed at the dots at the dots before he could do anything.

Shion yelped, shot upright, and Albafica felt a bomb go off in his head. His ears rang, his mind reeled and his hands went to the sides of his head. It felt like it would fly to pieces at any moment! The world was swirling and he slammed his eyes shut to keep the sight of it out and to keep from being sick. He heard words, shouting, and he his name being called, but he was to focused on trying to keep his head together to really pay any attention to it.

Then someone touched him. He jerked away, terrified. "No!" If he had even a drop of his blood on his skin, or even a tiny open cut, he could kill whoever it was! But the moment caused a fresh wave of pain and disorientation. He though he might have shouted, he wasn't sure. It just hurt to much to think straight.

There was a sudden wave of soft cosmo, old, ancient almost, and very familiar. It seemed to chase the pain away, soothing his head.

"Albafica," a patient voice said. He knew that voice very well. He heard it whenever he went up to give a report.

"H..holy Father?" he muttered, cracking open his eyes. The world was still swimming but it wasn't nearly as bad as it was before. He was on his knees, when that had happened he didn't know, and kneeling in front of him was the Pope himself.

"Good, at least you have your wits about you still," Pope Sage said. "Can you focus on me?"

It took more effort than Albafica felt it should have, but after a moment the figure of the Pope in front of him stopped moving. He nodded, then wince as that simple action sent a fresh jab of pain through his head.

"Good," he saw Pope Sage turn as she one came up behind.

"Albafica?" Someone said from behind the Pope. He managed to switch his gaze from the older man, and meet the eyes of the Aries Saint.

"I am sorry," Shion said, "I didn't know it was you, I should have had more control! I.."

"It's all right," Albafica managed to get out, although he was forced to close his eyes for a second to stop the spinning.

"What did happen?" Pope Sage glanced back at the Aries Saint, who looked serious.

"I was…napping Holy Father. Someone startled me awake," Shion explained, his hand raising toward the dots on his forehead before falling. Pope Sage must have noticed the abortive gesture.

"I very much doubt it was Albafica who actually caused that," he said mildly.

"It wasn't," a new voice said. Albafica recognized it. Everyone within Sanctuary knew Sisyphus and his pure golden Cosmo, although Albafica hadn't know he had been down here with everyone else. "Regulus just admitted to me that he had."

"But Manigoldo said it was just paint!' he heard the boy protest, but he didn't dare look over to see where they were standing. His head didn't hurt as much as it had, but the tiniest moment still caused the world to swim.

"Manigoldo!" the Pope snapped sharply and he saw him turn around although he couldn't see the Cancer Saint from here.

"It was only suppose to be a joke!" Manigoldo protested, "I didn't think he would actually do it!"

"That is far from amusing, and you know every well what would happen!"  
Manigoldo shouted something back at his Master and Albafica couldn't stop a wince as the noise sent another burst of pain through his head. Someone must have noticed that because both the Pope and his student fell silent.

"…Why don't I take care things here while you sort them out?" Someone stepped into his line of sight, and for a split second Albafica though his sight has blurred again, but then he registered that it was another man the Pope was standing to meet.

"Are you sure about this, brother?" Pope Sage asked.

"It is my student that caused this. He may have earned his Cloth, but that doesn't mean I've stopped cleaning up after him," he heard the stranger reply.

"Master!" that was Shion's voice, sounding torn between outrage and embarrassment. The newcomer just laughed in response.

Albafica could recall someone tell him about Shion's Master once, something to do with the Pope, but the pain was making it difficult to recall exactly what that was at the moment. The two older men must have come to an agreement because the next thing he was aware of was Pope Sage leading the rest of the Saints away as Shion's Master took the place the Holy Father had been kneeling in. Someone hesitated in following the rest of the Saints.

"Master, I…"

"Go Shion. You may apologize again later."

Albafica half expected the Aries Saint to argue but for Shion just muttered a 'Yes Master" before leaving. The elder Lemurian turned back to the Pisces Saint and Albafica had the uncomfortable feeling that he was being examined and weighed.

"My name is Hakurei," the older man said after a while, "and I suppose you have a headache fit for a god."

"..Yes," Albafica said, wincing a little when he tried an abortive nod that just hurt more.

The answer was greeted by a chuckle from Hakurei. "I'm not surprised. That boy managed to get a solid blow in…and you aren't even aware of what happened are you, are you?"

"No," Albafica was forced to admit. "I didn't even see an attack heading my way."

"It wasn't the sort of attack ," Hakurei explained as he settled back on his heels. "These," he jerked his thumb toward the dots on his own forehead, " are a rather sensitive point in most Lemurians. For Shion, a Saint in his own right, being startled out of his sleep with a touch on his forehead was something he registered as an attack. You can guess what happened after that."

"He assumed I was the enemy," Albafica finished, moving his head a little experimentally. It still hurt, not as bad as it had a few minuets ago.

"Exactly. As you are mostly likely aware, Shion is a rather strong psychic his own right. Most Lemurians are, and it as reflex for him to respond with a mental assault rather than a physical one. Right now your cosmos is much stronger and more refined than Regulus'. His mind tagged you as the bigger threat."

"I don't know whether to be flattered or not.." Albafica muttered, taking the hands from his head no that it didn't feel like it was going to split in two.

"Feel better?" Hakurei asked him.

"Some," Albafica answered as he moved his head in several directions, wincing when the pain threaten to explode again.

"..You should head back to your temple and rest," the Lemurian advised. "You should recover fairly soon, but it wouldn't hurt to lay down."

Albafica came a slow nod, and started to get to this feet. Hakurei stood and offered his hand, but the Pisces Saint ignored it. He didn't think that the psychic attack had caused any physical damage but he didn't want to risk the chance that he had. Hakurei stayed near him, only backing away once it was clear he had his feet.

"Albafica…" the elder said after a pause, "I am aware of what you are, and why you fear to let others close to you. But know that even if you can't ever let anyone be physically intimate, that does not mean that you have to shut yourself off from all companionship. It is not good for someone to be alone all the time. I am worried what the isolation will do to you."

"Thank you for your concern Lord Hakurei, but I will be fine. I'm a Saint, and I chose this path. I must live with it now." Albafica nodded painfully in respected to the Elder Lemurian then turned to start the long climb back up to his temple.

"I only hope you don't regret it," he heard Hakurei say, but he did not turn around. This was the choice he had made. The past couldn't be changed. Regret was something he could not afford.


End file.
